After more than seven years of planning and preparation, the new operating facilities for the 497th Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Group at Langley AFB, Va., are now fully operational. This unit runs DGS-1, one of the main hubs for the Distributed Common Ground System, the Air Force’s global enterprise for processing overhead imagery and signals intelligence from airborne ISR assets. The $75 million construction project consolidated DCGS assets and more than 700 personnel into two new buildings in a centralized complex at the north end of the base. Previously, the group’s airmen operated out of six different facilities around Langley. The new operations center is four times larger than the previous setup, with twice as many work stations. The changes have increased the group’s daily capacity to analyze still imagery by 50 percent and full motion video by 300 percent. (Langley report by A1C Jason J. Brown)
The rate of building B-21 bombers would speed up if the fiscal 2026 defense budget passes. But it remains unclear how much capacity would be added, and whether the Air Force would simply build the bombers faster, or buy more.
